Nanotechnology refers to processes, products, composites and other technologies that employ dimensions on the order of magnitude of 10−9 meters. Nanostructured materials exhibit unique properties that permit the creation of new, high-performance materials. Incorporating nanotechnology into materials and products adds value to these traditional materials and products by enhancing their mechanical strength, their superconductivity, and/or their ability to incorporate and efficiently deliver active substances into biological, space based, and other systems.
A nanostructure that has received a good deal of attention in recent years, and which is now commercially available, is the nanotube. A nanotube is made by winding single sheets of graphite with honeycomb structures into very long and thin tubes that have stable, strong, and flexible structures. The specific methods for producing such nanotubes include laser ablation of graphite and vapor-phase growth from hydrocarbon feed stock. These manufacturing processes normally produce both single walled and multi-walled nanotubes in mats or bundles of nanotubes.
Microfluidics, which is often used in conjunction with nanotubes and other nanotechnologies, presently deals with the functions and properties of fluids on the order of 10−4 to 10−3 meters. As technology in this area advances, the magnitudes of microfluids may become even smaller. Microfluidics is useful, among other things, for compact, self-contained, environmentally friendly chemical synthesis and analysis systems.
It has recently been reported that carbon nanotubes, when placed into a capillary filled with an ionic fluid or an alcohol, will generate a voltage when the fluid flows at a sufficient velocity. See Science, “Carbon Nanotube Flow Sensors,” Ghosh et. al., Feb. 14, 2003, Vol. 299, p. 1042. It has been suggested that such an arrangement could be used for flow sensors in microfluidic and other nanotechnology applications, and possibly even for the production of electric power.